Do you know people that you would never ask how they were doing because they are proned to tell you everything about how they are doing? When it comes to people caring about our problems or challenges in life, we can easily go to one extreme or the other. Some seem to think people generally are interested in every little thing or thought in their life, while others won’t tell anything personal in their life and if you question them about why they tell so little they answer, “No one cares about the personal things in my life. Everyone is interested only in things that relate to them or their family in some way.”

David in the Psalms often felt people didn’t care about him. He even declared, “No one cared for my soul.” David in many other Psalms spoke of the love and care of God for him and others so I doubt that the feeling that no one cared was the exact feeling all the time. But no doubt he went through tough times like we do in which it felt that no one really cared what happened to him. It may well have been in those years when he was hiding in a cave with a few other men, who were running from someone or something that he felt no one cared. Saul had at one time treasured David’s loyalty. But jealousy overcame him and he was at this point trying to kill David.

In I Peter 5:7 we are challenged to “Cast all of our cares upon the Lord for He cares for you.” The verses that surround this command are about humility. We are told to “Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time.” He told the younger ones to submit to those who were older and for all to be subject to one another. It is in such humility that we can cast our cares on the Lord. As long as we arrogantly face life declaring that we can handle everything that comes our way and that we don’t need God or anyone else to help us along the way, we will never put trust in God to take on our worries or cares.

The key message is God cares. He cares about the big problems in your life as well as the little ones. He wants you to tell him about the problems and He will bless and help us as a result. Sometimes when we tell other people about problems it seems that their eyes gloss over and you know they have lost interest in what you are saying and are ready for you to move on. The eyes of the Lord never gloss over. He wants to hear about our joys, and trials, our concerns and fears, our friends and enemies. He cares about every aspect of your life and mine.

But God not only cares and listen to our concerns and cares, He can do something about them. Certainly it is true that sometimes God doesn’t remove the problems but gives us more grace to handle them. In 2 Corinthians 12 when Paul had the thorn in the flesh, he had real problems with it. He prayed three times for the Lord to take it away from him. But God said, “No”. He told him that His strength was made perfect in weakness and that when he was weak he was strong. Paul changed his whole attitude about the thorn in the flesh. he now gloried in his weakness. He gloried in trials, attacks and problems. He recognized that God would work through those weaknesses to reach other people and bless them. It seems to me that the point we need to get is that when we cast our cares on the Lord who cares about us, He will often open doors for us to use the very worries and problems in our lives to reach out to someone else who is struggling with the same type problem.

It is important also for us to realize God isn’t the only one who cares about our trials and troubles. He does care deeply. But those people who are devoted to the Lord and determined to be godly people also care. They put themselves into the same boat with you to try to help. Jesus so often had it said of him that “He had compassion on them.” We need a whole lot of such compassion toward others to hear and help in times of need. When the care factor goes up in us we develop many more friendships. When the care factor goes up in a church they reach many more people for the Lord. They come with problems, hurts and disappointments looking for help and love. The closer the church follows the pattern set by the Lord the more godly they become and the more people they reach for the Lord.

God Cares, do you?

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About leoninlittlerock

Preaching minister for Central church of Christ in Little Rock. Author of over 20 books including: When a Loved one Dies, Spiritual Development, Skid Marks on the Family Drive, Challenges in the church, To Know Christ and A Drink of Living Water.